A Most Unlikely Tyrant
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: They broke their promise. They said I could have the hat. That I could be Hokage. I suffered for that hat, I bled for it; endured betrayal after betrayal and for what? Nothing. I took what was mine, and in return, they cursed and killed me for it. Now I rise again, to fight another war, to serve another Master. This time...I will have my due. Narutoxharem. Vote via Review!
1. A Most Unlikely Tyrant

**A/N: HA! TRIPLE UPDATE BABY! Hope you like it? I worked really hard on this.**

**WARNING!**

**ALTERNATE UNIVERSE INCOMING!  
**

**EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED, AS ALWAYS!**

**This Naruto possess the Double Summon skill upon being summoned, making him a fusion of the Berserker/Caster class. ****Yes, that's a thing. Look it up on the wiki if you don't believe me. ****Thanks to his origin and the trauma he endured...he's not quite right in the head. ****I leave it to you to judge him? Is he good? Evil? ****Or perhaps neither? Somewhere in between?**

***EDIT* Let the updates continue!**

**Could the trolls please stop? I've had to delete fifty-FIFTY!-reviews of nasty vitriol in the last hour or so and its making me upset. I've also had a rather nasty chap known as "Doom Marine" chanting at me to kill myself in the review section of my recent stories. Look if you don't believe me. Jokes on him though, that's not my real name.**

***Secondary Edit***

**I published this earlier, but the notification only came now? I don't know why? Notifications are being delayed again? I don't know? How many times has this happened in the last month? No one is to blame for it of course, the site just goes wonky sometimes. Really kills my drive to write though...**

**Because this hasn't gotten any reviews for this chapter...**

**Only flames...cruel...nasty, vicious flames...**

**...and that makes me a sad boy.**

**So...reviews? Please?**

**I'll beg if I must.**

**T_T**

**Oddly enough, some thing Beast got to this one. Did he? Some Servants are slippery.**

**As ever, this'll be gone in _two days_ if folks don't like it, yadda yadda...**

**So here. ****Because folks didn't want to wait for Extella or Extella Link. They'll be in this one.**

**If you don't know who Rani VIII is by now, well! **

**Look her up. She's a little cinnamon bun.**

**I own no references. Obviously.**

**But I do love them so.**

_"Tiny little thing, aren't you?"_

_~Tyrant._

**A Most Unlikely Tyrant**

_What are emotions?_

_How do they define us?_

_Do they give you a soul? Do your thoughts?_

_By that reckoning, anyone capable of rational thinking could have a soul. Anyone could have one. Any creature large or small, great and tall, false or true. Natural and artificial. __What is a soul, then? Emotions, to be sure, but what else? __Joy. __Hate. __Love. __Envy. What gives you that spark that makes you...well, you? What makes you different from the rest? Hobbies? Favorite colors? Personality? Throw them together and you get a soul. They say that's how it works, but does it? Does it really?_

_Do any of us truly have a soul?_

_Do you? __Do I?_

_Do we?_

_I don't know about a soul, but emotion defined me from a young age; as a boy I lived life without restraint; as a young man, even moreso. __I was tormented from a young age, but I bore it with a smile. __I did many things, some good, others bad. I was causing havoc from the moment I learned to walk. Once I learned to fight...well. That was the end of it. No one would pay attention to me. So I made them. Through pranks and chaos and smiles; I did whatever I could to make them look at me._

_But that's the problem with being noticed._

_When the light finally deigns to take notice of you, so too do the shadows._

_Danzo got ahold of me before I turned ten; by the time I realized who-what-he was it was already too late for me. Yet even so, I was allowed to live a somewhat normal life. I was allowed to wear a headband, to be part of a team, to go on missions when and where I pleased, so long as I stayed loyal to the Leaf. To him. __And if the price of my freedom was a few lives here and there, what did it matter?_

_They were enemies of the Leaf._

_B__y the time I become a shinobi, I already had a warped view of the world and its idea of a soul. _

_I obsessed over that question. That, and my quiet, cherished dream. Even as I was betrayed time and again._

_They refused to grant me any recognition whatsoever; anything I did, any credit I gained, was invariably stolen by someone else._

_And I allowed it. I could've spoken up, could've done something, but I allowed them to do it. I endured their jeers and their scorn, their bitter backstabbing._

_In my life I slew some who should've been spared, and spared some who should've been slain. It earned me a certain...reputation of sorts. __Does that make me a bad person? __I suppose it does, from a certain point of view, but int he end it all depends who you ask. Zabuza would call me an idiot for offering him and Haku a place in Konoha. A position he accepted. Gaara would've spit on my ashes for killing him during the Exam. He was mad as a hatter. Out of his mind. I didn't want to end him, but it had to be done._

_Didn't it?_

_I lived like a devil and laughed like a madman, allowed to exist between light and dark. Because I had a dream. A belief. A purpose. A goal, one that defined my entire life, one that I refused to give up. To be Hokage. It made me happy to think about it, the idea that one day-someday!-I would wear that hat, put on those robes, sit at that desk. That wish, that dream, carried me through so much hardship, through betrayal after betrayal. One day I would prove myself worthy to everyone who doubted me and they would see-they would all see!-who I was. I longed for that day. That dream._

_I gave up everything in pursuit of that happiness. _

_My life. My arm._

_I kept the world safe. From harm._

_I had a chance to leave it all behind. To flee. To follow others like me. To fall in love and start a different life; a good life, far away from the mess my village was becoming. Yet I stayed. Because I wanted that hat. Because I believed in them. They'd promised. Promised. And like a fool, I swallowed their lives and believed. The one person who cared for me turned away with disgust in their eyes as they left me behind, and still I forced myself to press on. I had to. It was all I had left, all I could ever be._

_Somehow, I was still surprised then...when the rest of them betrayed me. ME!_

_Everything had been going so well up until that moment; Kaguya was sealed, Sasuke was defeated and...rehabilitated. I followed orders. I did as I was told. I wasn't proud of what I'd done, but I accepted the necessity of it all the same. Because I...**trusted. **Because I...**believed.** I thought it would all work out somehow. Foolish. Naive. I hinged all my hopes and dreams on that hat._

_When they said I couldn't be Hokage, couldn't have my dream, I just...**snapped.**_

_At first I thought it was a joke on the old man's part. A prank of some kind._

_Sasuke was my friend. My brother in all but blood._

_Yet...and yet...after all of that...he..._

_They would give the hat to him._

_After all he'd said, after all he'd done, after I had to drag him back to his senses, they decide to give him the hat? What had he done to earn it? He'd tried to destroy it! No. A thousand times no. Not him. Anyone but him. I couldn't abide it. Couldn't hide it. S__till, they expected me to accept it all with a vacant expression as they talked about Hokage and successions, then concessions, and hope that it would just fly right over my head? No. I understood it all._

_So I confronted him._

_I didn't mean to at first; I went there that night with the idea to talk him down, to make him see how important this was to me. We argued. Tempers flared. Words were said. Cruel words. Harsh words. And I just couldn't take it anymore. He had to go; I couldn't say no. I couldn't give up my crutch, my dream-I WANTED TO SCREAM!-the one thing that had held me together after all these years. I begged and pleaded with him, but the fool wouldn't listen to me. He said I was unfit for the role. Unworthy._

_I know what you're thinking, but no. __There was no meticulous planning._

_There was no tenacity spanning, no decades of denial-wait.__ There was plenty of the last one._

_In the end I simply...blacked out. My mind shut down from one instant to the next and I...I did things._

_I don't remember what happened. One moment I was staring at that smug, insufferable visage, with those annoying advisers standing behind him, shouting at them all until I was blue in the face until something finally slipped; the next, I was standing in a puddle of their blood. Their bodies-what was left of them-lay at my feet in a torn heap. __So much blood. I'd killed them in a fit of pique, a mindless, wordless rage, and I couldn't go back. What's done is done._

_That hat was mine._

_It was always mine._

_It was meant to be mine._

_And the people rose up and killed me for it._

_I let them. By then I didn't have the strength to resist._

_For trying to take what I deserved, what I'd wanted all along, I was killed. They cursed me. Spat on me. I just want what I was due. What I was owed. If that makes me mad, then so be it. That hat was mine! __And yet some wouldn't see reason; some, like Sakura-whom I scarcely knew-would chose to take her own life than live without her precious Uchiha. Sai wouldn't look at me. Why? I listened. I followed orders. I only wanted to be happy, to make them happy, yet the others...the...**others...murdererkinslayeroathbreakermanwithouthonorwhywhywhywhy...?!**_

_Do I regret it?_

_Of course I do!_

_I had no ill will towards Sasuke, much less what followed his death. They didn't have to die. None of them had to die. Why didn't they listen? Why did they turn against me? Why did they kill me? I don't understand. I just wanted the hat. I had given so much for them, never wanting, never asking, but for this. Only this. They couldn't...couldn't even **GIVE** me... the one thing that I'd always wanted...I just wanted the hat. It was mine. I'd earned it. Deserved it. I corrupted it. I butchered it. I annihilated it. __They'll curse me for this now, call me mad for all I've done. I know it. And I am._

_My wish is simple. __Make them see sense._

_I didn't want to do this-never intended to hurt anyone._

_But you tried to take my dream. It was all I had left. The only thing._

_You don't take a man's dream. There...there are some things you just don't...do._

**_I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Let me fix it. Please let me fix it. Don't leave me here to die, don't leave me alone, don't let me go mad..._**

* * *

_(...0o0o0...)_

* * *

_Was this joy?_

Rani wondered if she should feel such as she gazed upon her fresh-summoned Servant; watched him rise from the summoning circle in her quarters, his body coiled in a pointed crouch. He did not speak. Did not look at her. Didn't even seem to be _alive at all _save the faint rise and fall of her chest. Granted, the little homonculus did not much understand the concept of emotions-yet!-and as such she wasn't wholly certain what she was feeling here in this moment. Numb? Excitement? Fear? Some strange combination of the three? Neither of them?

She willed herself to think.

To breathe.

Inhale.

This was what she'd wanted. Her teacher had told her to summon a Berserker before she'd gone into the Moon Cell; that the accompanying Madness Enhancement would be a boon in the battles to come. Now she saw the truth of his words, just as she felt the power of this Servant. Were it not for her own inordinate number of magic circuits, she suspected she would've been drained dry just by summoning him.

He certainly looked the part.

Clad in little more than rags, this Servant appeared little more than a beggar, where it not for the sheer killing intent looming from him.

He did not look terribly happy to see her; blank blue eyes gazed back at her, wholly devoid of any emotion.

No.

Wait.

That wasn't true.

She could see _something _lurking behind those sapphire rubies, those strange blue-yet-not-quite-red eyes. His was the gaze of a beast, a monster without reason. His duty was to protect her; to fight for her in the skirmish to come. And yet she could see _reason _struggling to the surface in those slitted, slanted pupils. He was _aware. _Not just of his surroundings, but her. When Rani shifted her weight to her right leg he followed the motion in his own slow, gravelly way. It was like watching an avalanche, slow and inexorable perhaps, but it would absolutely crush you if you were caught in its path.

He was also...large. Quite unreasonably so.

Enough to make her reconsider reaching out to him.

Spirits he moved frightfully fast for someone of that bulk and size.

Rani herself wasn't terribly tall, but this Servant couldn't easily scooped her up and placed her on his shoulder with room to spare. He utterly eschewed the use of a shirt in favor of an open cloak, revealing a battle-scarred chest dotted with as much muscle as there might have been wounds in life. A tattered white cape-the remnants of what might have been a red and white cloak-hung loosely from his blackened right shoulder, secured by a clasp of metal seared into flesh. Oh, dear. That looked...painful. His jagged mane of blond-red hair brushed over the worst of the wound, nearly touching the floor itself.

Well, at least he was wearing paints, if the tattered orange-black trousers ending in tattered tufts above his bare feet could be called such.

Those azure orbs-like ice, she mused-flicked her up and down before locking onto her gaze with a terrible intensity. Here stood someone who had been wronged on a fundamental level; someone who was betrayed and betrayed and betrayed again until his very soul snapped under the strain. Killing intent spilled into her humble-yet-spartan quarters, little more than four walls and a ceiling, a tiny cot where she slept-she had no need for food-threatening to taint the very air itself, yet somehow, she still felt no fear.

Only...pity?

How very odd.

How very odd indeed.

An impasse pushed itself between them, neither party willing to speak, much less move. Rani remained certain that her Servant wouldn't try to kill her, but at the same time, she remained hesitant to approach. Whiskered cheeks screwed up in a ferocious expression and she shrank back as the Servant tossed its head, sending that crimson-threaded blond main thrashing about. In the end she needn't have feared at all, because her Servant made no move to approach her whatsoever. He merely cocked his head, considering her.

And incredibly, he spoke.

**"Servant...Berserker."** the newcomer forced the words through grit teeth, as though speaking itself were an effort.** "Master...?"**

Oh! That last one had been directed to her, hadn't it. Silly girl. She needed to pay attention and stop...staring. Rani stumbled upright, hastily smoothed her skirts into place, and stood to compose herself. Berserker didn't so much as twitch, yet his eyes followed her all the same. Watchful intensity, not murderous, merely observant. It served as a chilling reminder of what he was. Ah, but he was waiting for a response and she had yet to do her duty and formally establish the contract between the two of them.

"Y-Yes," she tripped over the words only briefly. "I was the one who called you."

He regarded her for a long, painful moment. Then he knelt.

A scarred hand stretched out to her, ever so gently.

Tentatively, she accepted it with a smile.

To her mild confusion, Berserker took this opportunity to pull her hand to his cheek and laid her small palm against his. A low, shuddering sigh fled from his lips as his eyes glided shut. His entire body seemed to convulse, muscles trembling in unison. He seemed almost...pained. As if every breath was suffering on his part. Even her familiar's face felt dangerously warm to the touch. No. This wasn't a familiar. This was a person. A Hero, she reminded herself, regardless of what his past might have been. He existed. He had emotions. He was here for her.

Ah.

In that moment, the little homunculus experienced an epiphany of sorts. Was this what her professor had wanted her to learn when he sent her here? Or was she getting this terribly, horribly wrong? In truth, Rani had no way of knowing. She could only follow this strange, tugging feeling in her heart. Where these the fabled "emotions" he spoke of? She didn't know. She _couldn't _know. But she would learn.

Well. That certainly simplified things now, didn't it?

In the end, she had only three words for him.

Her hand patted his scarred cheek.

"Hello, my Berserker." she said.

Naruto smiled softly.

_**...hello."**_

**A/N: And there we go.**

**Remember the double summon! **

**Have your Dark!Berserker/Caster, have your tyrant who lost himself to madness, one who was promised a single thing, a single dream...and lost it all. Would you go mad if someone told you that you were destined for greatness, only to rip it away at the last second? Lets face it, this is Danzo we're talking about. This is something he'd do.**

**This Naruto endured betrayal after betrayal, heartbreak after heartbreak, until he finally snapped.**

**As such, his legend was tainted and he's is heavily afflicted by Madness Enhancement, and thus can't speak properly. At least he CAN communicate, unlike poor Heracles. I don't think any of us are going to miss Lu Bu, given that all that Berserker could do was grunt and roar like the madman he was. Naruto can only speak if a Command Spell is used to make him do thus, and as Rani only has three...she can't exactly spend them willy-nilly now, can she?**

**I don't have the heart for a long author's note. Not this time.**

**As ever, this will be gone in _two days _if folks don't like it.**

**So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review...Would You Kindly?**

**And enjoy the previews!**

***cackles madly***

**(Previews)**

_The first round was an utter victory._

_Berserker showed no mercy to his prey. None at all._

_Archer died quickly at least. Rani consoled herself with the green bowman's passing._

* * *

_"Eat."_

_Ran started._

_"I have no need for food-_

_He pressed the apple into her hands regardless._

* * *

_X tilted her head._

_...why are you staring?"_

* * *

_"Do you have a headache?"_

_Haunted eyes turned toward her._

* * *

_Rani tilted her head._

_"What are you doing, Caster?"_

_He grinned at her. It was...an oddly pleasant smile._

_...preparing." He continued to construct the traps with delicate care._

**R&R~!**


	2. A Most Unlikely Bond (Interlude)

**A/N: HOWDY~! GUESS WHO FINALLY GOT A SMART PHONE!**

**THIS GUY!**

**Now, I've only just downloaded Fate Grand Order, haven't had a chance to play it in...well, at all, lately. So I'll let you all know when I'm up and running. A few of you said something about friend codes? Is that I thing? I don't know, its been a long time...so...could anyone let me know what I'm in for? **

**WARNING!**

**ALTERNATE UNIVERSE INCOMING!  
**

**EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED, AS ALWAYS!**

**This Naruto possess the Double Summon skill upon being summoned, making him a fusion of the Berserker/Caster class. ****Yes, that's a thing. Look it up on the wiki if you don't believe me. ****Thanks to his origin and the trauma he endured...he's not quite right in the head. ****I leave it to you to judge him. Is he good? Evil? ****Or perhaps neither? Somewhere in between?**

**As ever, any and all reviews are fuel for each chapter.**

**I don't get paid to do this after all, reviews are the only incentive I receive.**

**SO c****ould the trolls please stop? I've had to delete countless reviews of nasty vitriol in the last few days or so and its making me upset. I've also had a rather nasty chap known as "Doom Marine" chanting **

**If you don't know who Rani VIII is by now, well! **

**Look her up. She's a little cinnamon bun.**

**I own no references. Obviously.**

**But I do love them so.**

**Sorry if its short!**

_"Can you communicate properly? Or just in single-word sentences?"_

_"-_-"_

_"That is not a response."_

_~?_

**A Most Unlikely Bond (Interlude)**

_He didn't speak again._

Try as she might, Rani couldn't get a coherent response out of her Servant after his initial summoning. Rather, he simply refused to speak. To her, to himself, to anyone. That brief spark of sentience that had struggled so hard to reach the surface was inevitably smothered beneath the stifling weight of his Madness Enhancement once more. Perhaps never to emerge again. It almost made her sad. Truly, those of the Berserker class were an unenviable lot saddled with cruel fates. Her Servant was no exception.

Were she went, Naruto followed, and her fellow Masters shrank away from him.

Of course they did. She _was _riding on the blond's shoulder after all. That was to be expected.

His towering height dwarfed several Servants to begin with; compared to him, she may as well have been a child.

She knew she could expend a Command Spell to MAKE him talk, perhaps even stifle his Madness Enhancement entirely, but she didn't dare. It wasn't fear that held her back, only pragmatism. She could only ever use two such spells; the third was needed to solidify her existence here in the Moon Cell. No, she would not waste them unless Berserker make it terribly apparent that he wanted to speak. Perhaps not even then. Her seals had to be kept safe in case of emergency, lest she waste them on frivolous-

An apple sailed up at her and, jarred from her thoughts, the little homunculus narrowly caught it.

Baffled, she turned her head to find her Servant staring at her.

A lone blue iris regarded her silently.

**"Eat."**

Rani started.

"I have no need for food-

He pressed the apple into her hands regardless.

Reluctantly, she did as she'd been bade and began to eat.

To his credit Berserker wasn't a bad Servant per se, he just didn't understand the concept of restraint. Oh, he took good care of her and consented to her commends readily, he just did it with excess..._everything._ Force or strength, vim and vigor. Be it feeding her, protecting her, or even tucking her in at night. Naruto Uzumaki did nothing by half measures. There was a frightful spark of sanity beneath that madness, rarely glimpsed, yet all the more potent when it appeared. For all of his snarling fury, he could actually show some tact.

Their opponent was one such example.

Rani was able to deduce that he was an Archer easily enough the moment she laid eyes on him; even before his attempted assassination of her. In recompense for his temerity, Berserker broke both his arms and thrashed his Master besides. But rather than kill them, he let Archer limp off to tend to his wounds-his magus to recover and fight another day. He could have killed them both. Instead, he let them live. Just to terrifying them. That should have been telling in the first place; a sign that her Servant wasn't as senseless as he seemed. Poisons did not affect him. Arrows just bounced off his scarred hide. If she didn't know better, she'd suspect his Noble Phantasm granted him invulnerability or multiple lives.

She truly had summoned a monster of a man.

She had seven days to win his loyalty before she faced her first opponent in battle.

Seven days to secure the two triggers needed to make it to the next round. Seven days to hone her skills.

And yet in those seven days, rather than enforce her dominance of him, Rain attempted to engage in conversation with her Servant, despite the knowledge that she would inevitably fail. So she asked him questions. Tiny things, small things. Because she wanted to hear him speak to her again, as he had before. For a girl who did not understand emotions, she found she wanted to understand this young man. For all his feral appearance he wasn't as feral as he seemed.

On the first day, he did not speak at all.

On the second day, he gave her another bushel of apples.

On the third day, she managed to answer one of her questions, albeit haltingly.

On the fourth, she witnessed his true Noble Phantasm for the first time and it terrified her.

On the fifth, he managed to cook something for her, despite nine miserable attempts. She still ate it.

On the sixth Naruto surprised her with a laugh when she accidentally tickled him; little more than a rusty chuckle, but laughter nonetheless.

By the seventh, he'd taken to carry her around wherever he went. Rani found that was not opposed to such transportation. It was...effective. Gentle, even.

When the time came to fight, Berserker did not ask questions of Rani. By then their triggers had long since been collected, their preparations made. All that remained was to face the enemy. No, Naruto never said so much as a word to her as they approached-and entered-the elevator leading down to the arena. He simply shadowed her, ducking his head as she walked ahead of him. And if he appeared mildly displeased that she'd elected to walk under her own power, surely that was her imagination...?

The enemy awaited them within.

"Hey, little miss~!"

She could feel her heart beating rapidly when she saw them, threatening to pound its way out of her chest. There would be no escape this time; no rules to prevent that green Archer from going right for her throat. It was an illogical fear, but after seeing what his arrows could do, she had no desire to be struck by any of them. She was just a girl, not a walking engine of destruction. One shot to the head and she would die. She was certain of that. Was Berserker fast enough to protect her? Was she quick enough to dodge? And then there was the matter of his Master.

Dan Blackmore hadn't said so much as a word to her. He just...watched her with those cold eyes of his.

Rani's breath hitched in her throat as she felt the beginnings of a panic attack coming on.

She'd been wrong about this. She wasn't ready. No. Not at all.

A hand found her shoulder.

**"Re...lax."**

Her head whipped around with such force that she felt her neck pop.

He offered her a strained smile.

**"It'll...be...alright..."**

He gave her a gentle squeeze and stepped forward to place himself between her and the Green Archer; sending the elevator trembling with each step.

Archer immediately backpedaled, his sarcastic wit all but forgotten in the face of that silent fury.

A fist rose and smashed into the silent screen separating the two of them.

"Whoa there, big guy! Wait until the elevator stops!"

Berserker gazed stoically ahead, his wild gaze locked on the enemy awaiting him at the other side of the barrier. Archer was left rubbing his arms, no doubt remembering the horrible wounds he'd been dealt during their last encounter. It was likely Robin Hood they faced, or so she surmised. Who else could be so skilled with a bow and sabotage techniques? Most Archers would at least stand and fight when cornered, but this one always ran, even when he'd a chance for victory. Almost as if he were afraid. She supposed he had good reason to be.

With a soft "ding" of sound, the elevator came to a halt.

Archer didn't wait; he all but bolted to the relative safety of the arena, dragging his Master with him.

Naruto grunted and followed at a more sedate pace-all the while to keep his muscled bulk between Rani and any backhanded attacks. The silent gesture was not lost on the little homonculus; tentatively she reached up to give his scarred hand a soft squeeze of her own. This time, Berserker's grunt sounded almost pleased by comparison. Was that the ghost of a smile on that stoic face just now? Surely not.

And then it was time.

Terror or not, she could only drag her feet so long before she ran out of road.

The arena loomed before them now, a silent expanse some miles wide. It suited Berserker just fine. There was no cover to be had here, no ambush points by which Archer might escape or wheedle away at their health. A simple flat plain surrounded by barriers on all sides, bits of coruscating data frittering away higher into the sky. She felt the walls close in behind them as they approached; well, that was it, then. There could be no escape now, no turning back, no surrender. No mercy. Even now she could feel her circuits burning uncomfortably warm as Naruto drew energy from

So be it.

Kill or be killed.

"Berserker...do as you wish."

The green archer and his noble knight of a master stood no chance.

As ever, Naruto didn't speak.

He just moved.

A wild and furious howl tore its way out of his throat to shatter the air, then he was suddenly thundering forward to meet the enemy in a bold bolt of crimson. Credit where it was due, Archer knew better than to let the brash blond close the gap. No sooner had Naruto gone half a step forward than he retreated just as quickly.

It still didn't save him.

His first shot skittered off the scarred plane of Berserker's chest; the next caromed wildly of the rapidly advancing avalanche that was her Servant. All while Rani watched Archer's master for duplicity or the signs of any other such action. When he raised his arm and attempted a code cast, she instantly countered with one of her own; boosting Berserker's already stellar attack to obscene heights. Now those mismatching eyes burned with a different kind of fire all their own. Blackmore scowled at her and reached for his own weapon even Rani steadied herself-

_**"WEAK!"**_

"Gack?!"

Rani's gaze snapped back to the Servant's fray just as Naruto roared in triumph and finally managed to get ahold of the elusive Archer. This time, Robin Hood did not escape, The latter had been in the process of preparing his Noble Phantasm and was thus caught wholly unawares by the Berserk blond's sudden surge. Twin fists came crashing down on his chest, stunning him. A hammer-fist broke his ribs and slammed him into the ground. He snapped off a shot into Berserker's face but the madman only caught it between his teeth, bit down, and kept whaling on him.

Rani forced herself to watch it all, even as her circuits burned and her reserves ran dry.

And then it was done. Berserker rained down blow after brutal blow upon the enemy Servant until he simply couldn't defend himself anymore. Archer did not cry out. His sole concession to the pain were a few quiet grunts as those scarred fists beat him into an unrecognizable mess. Soon enough, he fell silent entirely. Whatever offensive move Dan had been preparing died as he too stood idly by, transfixed by the horror that was unfolding before them. Then, when he was at his lowest point; when Archer was wholly, utterly unable to move, Berserker reached down.

His hand closed around Archer's head and hauled him off the ground.

Mismatching blue-red eyes turned to Rani. He was waiting for her command, she realized. There _was _someone in there. He wasn't a mindless cur as he appeared. A second dragged by. Then another. Another still. He did not move; even as Archer's Master slumped to the ground. There was a high, wild light in eyes, not cruel but...frightful all the same. Eyes blazing, chest heaving, Berserker gave his prey a shake, as though Archer were a worn out chew toy. He certainly looked like one right about now.

"So be it." the old knight sighed, gazing at her. "I concede. Finish what you started, little one."

Still, Berserker waited for Rani's command.

And she nodded. "Finish it."

Berserker wasn't cruel; he crushed Archer's head with ruthless dispatch and flung him away like a rotten piece of fruit. Archer died quickly at least. Rani tried to console herself with the green bowman's passing. The poor Servant's body began to crumble almost immediately, and his Master wasn't far behind. Still he showed no fear, even here in his final moments. Instead, he pulled himself upright to face them, even as the crimson barrier of the defeated snapped into existence between the three of them. He'd failed. He was going to die.

So why was he smiling?

"You have been defeated. Why are you laughing?"

"Well done." he croaked the words out. "You proved yourself willing to kill. However,"

Rani flinched, but forced herself to meet the man's gaze. No. She wouldn't falter. She wouldn't.

"For what its worth, you have my sympathies." that wrinkled face creased in a careworn smile as his lower torso crumbled away into astral dust. "I should warn you against what is to come-tell you not to let your Servant rage as he has, not to let him consume you, change you-but it appears he already has. If you continue down this path...

He stretched out a decaying hand to her.

_"You'll see hell."_

His words sank into her heart like a thorn through flesh even as Blackmore turned to dust; his parting words didn't so much poison Rani;s thoughts as they did pain her. What had she done in this fight? Nothing. No, less than nothing. She'd countered a Code Cast. That was it. Naruto had done all the fighting. He had won solely through his own power. Could she live with that? Could she become stronger? Could she keep killing and harden her heart to all the trials that awaited her? What would her teacher say?

In the end, she didn't have the answers. Dan Blackmore died, and Rani The Homonculus lived on.

Naruto patted her head.

**"Good...job."**

Rani sighed softly into his palm.

Yes, the first round was an utter victory.

Berserker had shown no mercy to his prey. None at all.

So why did she feel as though she were losing something terribly important?

**A/N: Poor Robin Hood.**

**He never stood a chance.**

**Really though, sending an Archer out against a Berserker is just a bad matchup no matter how you look at it; there are on a handful of dedicated Archers capable of taking down a Berserker and lets face it, our green boy wasn't one of them.**

**And Naruto's slowly bringing 'lil Rani over to his way of thinking.**

**Before anyone asks, Hakuno is in this story. And their Servant might...surprise some of you~!**

**No one has plot armor these days, and I'm tired of holding back when it comes to fights. Deaths are going to come regularly now for all the Unlikely stories as a whole now; because with all of these updates we've officially moved into phase two. Everyone's out drawing battle lines, finding their enemies and killing them.**

**On another note, ****A Most Unlikely War will be its own story. ****The bit going on with Drifter is a separate bit and only has SOME of the cast gathering. Not all. Think of that one as a teaser to come.**

**In this world, its kill or be killed now, isn't it? Kudos if you get the quote.**

**I don't have the heart for a long author's note. Not this time.**

**As ever, this will be gone in _two days _if folks don't like it.**

**Reviews are love, Reviews are life, Reviews are good.**

**So in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

**...Review...Would You Kindly?**

**And enjoy the previews!**

**References for days.**

***cackles madly***

**(Previews)**

_"That's hell you're walking into."_

* * *

_"You won't fight Caster?"_

_Naruto shook his head sternly._

_Alice only tilted hers. "Aw, that's nice~!"_

* * *

**_"I...will...not..._**

_Lancer swore softly. _

**_...LET YOU...GET AWAY...WITH THIS!"_**

_Then there was a rush of red-gold and he knew only pain._

_Huh. Getting beaten about with his own spear. That was some new shit._

* * *

_She had a nightmare._

_Berserker didn't say a word; not a one._

_He simply allowed her to curl up in his chest._

* * *

_Euryale beamed._

_"He's just like Asterios!"_

_"We should keep him, then." Stheno agreed._

_Naruto frowned and began to shake his head slowly._

_"What's wrong, Berserker?" the sisters frowned. "You should feel honored."_

_The head-shaking intensified tenfold and Rani nearly giggled at his Servant's plight._

* * *

_"You possess the Double Summon skill, correct? __Then...can you change classes?" she hastened to elucidate. "Perhaps as a Caster you might be able to speak without pain?"_

**R&R~!**


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